Unemployment rate slipped in Md. and Va. in January, held steady in D.C.

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The unemployment rates fell slightly in Maryland and Virginia in January but remained steady in the District, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. The data show strong job growth in the District and Virginia but losses in Maryland.

Maryland's jobless rate decreased from 7.4 in December to 7.2 percent, while Virginia's dropped to 6.5 percent from 6.6 percent. The District's rate remained at 9.6 percent in January.

The U.S. unemployment rate in January fell to 9 percent from 9.4 percent. The federal government's release of state unemployment data lags significantly behind its reporting on the nation's jobless levels. The January U.S. jobs report was issued in early February, and the government has since released a new set of numbers showing that the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 8.9 percent in February.

The District, Maryland and Virginia were early indicators of the tentative economic recovery taking hold across the country, showing steady drops in the unemployment rates before that trend emerged in the national data. Some experts now say they see more of a mixed picture in the Washington region.

Sara Kline, an associate economist at Moody's Analytics, said the data showed strong job gains in Virginia and Washington. But she said she was concerned about a loss of 7,100 payroll jobs in Maryland.

"On the surface, you might say it's a good thing" that Maryland's unemployment rate dropped after remaining steady for four consecutive months, Kline said. "I'd say no, it's concerning. People are stepping out of the labor force; they've stopped looking for jobs."

In a conference call Thursday, Alexander M. Sanchez, Maryland's secretary of labor, licensing and regulation, noted that the state had had seven consecutive months of job growth. He said Maryland's 7.2 percent unemployment rate is at its lowest level since May 2009.

Still, other experts agreed with Kline that the decrease in the rate was not attributable to job gains but to the long-term unemployed halting their search for work. The Labor Department counts only jobless people who are looking for work in its unemployment data.

An exit of discouraged jobless people from the data can lower a state's official unemployment rate, but economists consider it a signal that conditions for hiring have worsened.

The Labor Department data show that Maryland experienced net job gains in retail (up 700) and professional and business services (up 500).

But it recorded net losses in several other sectors: education and health, down 2,500; construction, down 2,300; government, down 1,500; and leisure and hospitality, down 1,100.

In Virginia and the District, the opposite trend is playing out. Data suggest that long-term unemployed people are again searching for jobs - and some are finding them.